Tailored Training

Since 2001, Avens has had its own City and Guilds accredited in-house training organisation known as Tailored Training.

The idea was conceived by two of the companies’ directors who were frustrated by their experiences with external training providers. They were aware of the huge pressures on external assessors with their large portfolios of candidates. Our learners were suffering from irregular visits and were struggling to keep their paperwork together.

Most importantly, our client group found it stressful to have unfamiliar faces observing our employees during external verification and due to challenging behaviour we were concerned with keeping external assessors safe.

The innovative training system developed by the directors as a response to these issues, was one of the first training centres to offer E-Portfolios on a 24/7 basis via the internet. This strategy developed in collaboration with BioMedical, a software developer, is a cost effective way to meet regulated requirements in Health and Social care. The effective use of IT saves time and paperwork.

In our heavily regulated industry, a dedicated and well-trained workforce is vital to what we do and what we achieve for our customers. For the last 13 years we have been delivering staff training and continued professional development. Most of our training is now provided in house and, as well as Diploma's, we offer staff a range of other specialist training. This includes a course that helps to eliminate the need for staff to restrain service users if they become violent. Called ‘non abusive psychological and physical interventions (NAPPI), the techniques used by our staff have virtually eliminated the need to restrain even the most challenging service users. NAPPI techniques have also resulted in the people making great progress in terms of their behaviour.

Training supports confidence and we need to ensure that staff are well-equipped to recognise good and best practice and are able to deliver this in a care setting. Each new employee is inducted by one of our qualified assessors who goes through an induction with them. Support is continued after the day one induction with an introduction to the Care Certificate if they are new to care. These 12 standards are completed on-line (e-learning) by the learner in their own time, but must be completed within three months of commencement of their employment. Staff’s development is monitored and each person is scheduled to attend various training courses and refreshers throughout the year.

By offering staff training we are empowering our workforce and demonstrating to them our commitment to providing a quality service for our customers and to their professional development. We find training encourages loyalty, boosts morale and helps to keep our staff retention figures high.